For as long as I can remember, I have always loved Christmas. It’s not just the day itself, but the entire season. There is something about the lights and the smells, the music and the joy – and hope.
Somehow, every time December comes around, I find it a little easier to believe. I anticipate miracles. I find wonder in things that may seem small and insignificant. And while I am fully aware of how odd it is that I feel this way, it happens every year. With the coming of Christmas, I am open and expectant… But what is it that I hope for?
Do I hope that this will be the year I fall in love for keeps? Or that I will be cured of my disease? Do I hope for financial success or a strong ministry? Do I look forward to a new year with all of its opportunities and fresh starts? As amazing as any of those things sound even as I write this, I know that what I hope for is none of those things.
I remember listening to my favorite Christmas album and hearing Amy Grant singing,
No more lives torn apart That wars would never start And time would heal all hearts And everyone would have a friend And right would always win And love would never end
from her song, Grown-Up Christmas List
And I know what my heart longs for and anticipates is something beyond even those wonderful sentiments.
Several millennia ago, in a time remarkably like our own, the prophet Isaiah wrote, “There will be no more gloom for those who were in distress… The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:1-2, NIV). Promises were made that sounded impossible. Hopes were kindled, beyond what the people could dream. The people had waited, were waiting, would wait longer, but the waiting would come to an end and they would find what they had waited for was greater than their wildest dreams.
Every year, every December, I join in with the generations who have waited. I anticipate along with all those who cry out, “God, you promised!” And I know that our God is one who keeps his promises. I hope that this December, you will dream along with me hoping beyond all hope in the one who came and visited in Eden, who lived among us in Nazareth, and who will one day reveal himself to the whole world and transform everything we thought we knew into something beyond anything we’ve ever imagined.
Until that day, December reminds me to dream and wait and hope.